HM Queen Elizabeth II Stamps & Ephemera

I own the union Jack one on the last photograph.  He also did 2 others but the e pictures are in storage so cant take photographs.

Pictures if these stamps are difficult as they are silver.

They were produced in a limited edition of 2006.

Most of the stamps I have seen on ebay have become tarnished.

Silver stamps was a first for the Royal Mail. (See below letter.






They were originally £60 to buy from Royal Mail.  I have picked up several sets over the years for less than £10  each from ebay.  

The bit I loved was the info it came with which helped with my collecting.

This is an interesting one   these stamps were issued in 2011(my pictures are postcards as easier to see the detail.

I own the original of the next picture.  This was painted in 1953 by Millar Watt and published in the ILN in 1953.  This picture was reproduced in 2012 as part of the diamond jubilee set.  My original does not have the writing.  Again the original is in storage which I cant get to.

I paid £200 for the original direct from the ILN archive which is expensive but I thought worth it as u dont see many originals of the crown jewels




The original colours are so much more vivid.  It has been restored as it was not stored correctly at the ILN and mold was forming.  Its a very  important piece  of history.

Original Anthony Buckley Etching.

This is an amazing portrait of the Queen.  It is used on a number of different stamps in different countries.  I will try and do a post if it helps showing all the different stamps with this portrait. The photograph was by Cecil Beaton.  I think it is an incredible photograph

An amazing stamp Ryan.  I was lucky to find the Cook island stamp sheet as part of 2 complete albums I bought with all the commonwealth stamp covers from 1977 and 1978. Thank you for the link to the cook island post.  I havent really looked at each of the stamps in terms of country.  There are some amazing sheets including places like Hong Kong

Once I have time I will try and add all the sheets to the post.  There are some amazing stamps in them but I have too many! 

This is one of letters trying to get hold of information about the Commonwealth Collection.  As u can see there is v limited info available. I contacted the commonwealth society directly

These are the last tonight.  The 1978 stamp was designed by Jeffrey Matthew's.  Again I will do a whole post on him as he played a fundamental part in many stamp designs including designing the iconic HM Queen 60th Birthday stamps and sorting the different colours on the Machin stamps.


The Machin stamp is the most reproduced work of art in history .  The estimated figure is over 300 billion copies. 

It is probably a question you are thinking.  I believe I do know the rarest UK HM Queen approved stamp that can be used for posting.. It was produced in only a quantity of 1000.  I bought and own the vast majority including the v first stamp that came off the press and will give one away in one of the free draws London Bus is going to help me with. I have tried going to 2 stamp specialists but they laughed at me so I gave up. I think they saw me as just someone who had no idea. i hope my stamps prove you dont have to be an expert to specialise.  You just need to know your collection inside out and how each item fits in with others.  They didnt give me chance to explain what I had done in my collecting.  They just used the words everyone thinks they have the rarest stamps without asking what thd stamp was! 

If experienced stamp and coin collectors dont embrace newbie collectors and help, people will not take on the hobby. It is thanks to people taking time that I have picked up the hobby   I have also read and researched 

I am hoping to donate  one of the stamp and other items to the National Portrait Gallery in the UK when they reopen.  At the moment they are all on furlough. They have been v approachable and helpful.

I may be wrong and people might know of a rarer stamp.  It is not an error stamp but a special produced stamp in only a quantity of 1000 Of an official portrait.  It is a postal acceptable stamp in the UK which could still be used now for postage. 

Some of the stamps have gone on covers.  The exact figures are somewhere in my archive files Of the exact use of each stamp be it cover or as a stamp sheet.

I have previously found the rarest official 50p a few years ago of 19,571.  Coins are usually produced in millions.  It was thanks to a similar forum like this where I was able to share the info.  I was able to make a significant profit and was able to donate a good amount of money to local charities and gave nearly 20 coins to coin collectors. I hope I can help people in the same way with the stamp.

Goodnight 

Lovely set of signed covers by the artist who designed the stamp and the stamp covers.

Have not been able to find this artist to ask him about his paintings.  He is called Julian Puckett.  They were produced to celebrate the 70th Birthday of Queen.  The were produced by the Grandborough Collectors Club.

I realise alot of the stamp collectors are not from the UK but dont know if anyone has anymore detail about this amazing designer.  They are quirky but I love them.

I only have a couple of covers as they are very expensive to buy at £50 a cover.

Unfortunately Jack Oliver passed away in 2007 and I think production was stopped 2010/2011 so they only ran for 10 years or so.





I bought the above cover as I have researched Machin so much.







Love this cover as it is number 60 out of 100.  It celebrates the Queens 60th Wedding Anniversary.






This stamp cover is v special as ot is signed by Jack Oliver and one if his last cover designs.. 


As I go through my items you will see some lovely items from 2006.  I will do one post on this incredible year in time.
2006 is a special year for me and why I have so much on 2006 because my youngest was born in 2006 and I wanted to find her something incredible to mark her birthday to give her when she is 21.

What I have fascinating about stamp collecting is the change in how much stamp covers cost from the 1970's when stamp collecting was at it height to now. I only started collecting a few years ago and most of my collection has been found on eBay.

I found this collection as part of a house clearance on eBay and bought several complete folders. I paid £5 per folder. It cost me more to get them posted.

In the folders the person who bought the covers kept all the receipts so I am able to see how much she paid. They were sold and marketed as a future item that will be =come valuable.

In 1978 she paid over £100 per set, some she paid over £150. I have several of her folders.

This first set is £117 in 1978 which would cost £676 in todays money.

I have a soft spot for this lady as I am quite a picky person and some of her letters to the different stamp companies are great and resonate with me.

The information with this folder shows how important writing information is so that if something happens then family members know of the collection and the worth and what to actually do with it. I have concerns with my own collection as my mother sees my collecting as hoarding and I have visions of massive skips turning up at my house and it all being thrown away if I pass away before her. I am hoping that I have educated my children as much as I can bearing in mind they are 14 and 16 who would rather I spend my money on clothes and items for them!

Think I am going to have to buy one of these.  Queen and Queen. It was Freddie Mercury who came up with the name "years ago I thought up the name Queen.....it's just a name, but it is v regal obviously and sounds splendid"  

Whilst researching on google I found a really interesting article from the post office about the Court Post office (see below for pictures)